The advantages of quick setting adhesives in the automotive industry have long been known. These "holding" adhesives have the advantage of providing a rapid way of attaching one part to another without causing any physical degradation or deformation of either. However, while the quick set of these materials is often of primary importance, it often makes them difficult to use safely.
A safe and economical way to use these adhesives has long been sought. Fasteners containing their own internal supply of adhesive (herein referred to as adhesively secured fasteners), provide a way of storing, transporting and delivering a desired amount of adhesive to the site of attachment. They are designed so that one or more materials or objects may be mechanically attached to the fastener body which is adhesively secured to the underlying substrate. The use of quick setting adhesives in such fasteners facilitates the formation of bonds between two or more materials or objects, one or more of which may not be compatible with the adhesive. Additionally, the use of these fasteners often eliminates the need for any deformation or degradation of the various surfaces.
Several prior art patents have attempted to achieve adhesively securable fasteners using quick setting adhesives. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,425,065; 4,555,206; 4,693,652; and 4,830,558, herein incorporated by reference, disclose adhesively secured fasteners having a quick setting adhesive positioned within the body of the fastener and means for causing the transference of said adhesive to a position outside the body whereby the body of the fastener is adhesively secured to a substrate. However, these prior art adhesively secured fasteners all possess the disadvantage of allowing uncontrolled transfer of the quick setting adhesive. Thus, these prior art fasteners contribute to the problem of accidental user contact with the adhesive.
However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,852 does attempt to address this problem. It discloses a vacuum fixed adhesively secured fastener. This fastener is designed so that adhesives released from an adhesive reservoir in the body of the fastener are contained by the vacuum and barrier-like action of the outer edge of the resilient plastic material of the fastener body. The vacuum fixed fastener can thus be handled without the danger of adhesive contact with workmen or other nondesired surfaces. However, the use of the vacuum fixed adhesively secured fastener is restricted to use on substrates of a non-porous nature and/or those which facilitate the creation of a vacuum with the resilient plastic material of the fastener body.
There is thus a need for an adhesively secured fastener for use on a wide variety of substrates which provides a safe and effective method of storing, transporting, delivering and using a quick setting adhesive. In particular, substrates such as wood fiber interior trim boards, cloth covered interior parts, headliners materials, and exterior parts comprised of plastic and fiber reinforced plastic, including SMC and BMC, having pockmarked or non-smooth surfaces, could utilize an adhesively secured fastener which provides a safe way to rapidly attach articles thereon.
Furthermore, such a fastener should be simple and easy to use while protecting against all possibility of accidental contact between the adhesive and the user of the fastener.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an adhesively secured fastener for use on a wide variety of substrates which provides a safe and effective method of storing, transporting, delivering and using a quick setting adhesive.
It is a further object of the invention to accomplish this objective while providing fasteners which protect against accidental contact of the adhesive with those using the fastener.